Four held for R87m SBV heist

Witbank - Four people were arrested early Wednesday morning in connection with the robbery of an SBV cash centre in Witbank, in which R87 million was stolen, the Hawks said.

"Two of the suspects are employees of SBV's cash centre in eMalahleni and another suspect is a police reservist from the area," Captain Paul Ramaloko said.

The Hawks and SBV made the arrests, and R6000, two police blue lights, and two police-issue bulletproof vests were recovered from the reservist.

"The suspects took the team to a house in Carolina, Mpumalanga where R990,000 was recovered, stashed in a metal container hidden in the yard and in a washing machine."

On April 27, around 9pm, SBV's cash centre in Witbank was robbed of R87 million when an armed gang overpowered and drugged security guards. The four guards were dropped off on a road in Kromdraai, eMalahleni. They remain in hospital, three of them in critical condition and the fourth slowly recuperating, Ramaloko said.

The four would appear in eMalahleni Magistrate's Court on Thursday. More arrests were expected.

National Hawks head Lt-Gen Anwa Dramat congratulated the Hawks and SVB for their joint investigation leading to the arrests.

"They were swift in tracking and tracing these suspects. The team will not rest until all suspects are behind bars."